Doll with movable arms



Oct. 2l, 1952 Y. H. Mussi-:LWHITE ETAL 2,514,355

nom. WITH MovABLE ARMs Filed July `25, 1949 ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 21, 1952 DOLL..WITH MOV'ABLE ARMS Yolanda Helen Musselwhite and JosephA. ,I

Musselwhite,` Washington, D. C.'

Application Julyzs, 1949,-fseriaiN-1caer4 (C1: lifa- 119) 4 Claims.

This 'inventionrelates toa doll of the type having a body carrying movable arms and legs and one object of the invention is'to provide such a .doll with means for imparting movements to the arms in such a manner that vthey may be caused to move transversely of the body vof the doll and imitate` movements cfa babysarms when clapping its handsand p1ayng.natticake.

Another objectof the invention is to provide a doll with armmoving .means which'is embedded in the' body .ofthe doll and thus hidden from View as `well as being .prevented from protrudingv from the doll. It will thus bevseen that .the doll may .be conveniently heldin'a persons arms vor disposedy in .a reclining vpositionjlupon its backwithout its .arrnsibeing "accidentally caused tomove; u

Another obj ect of the' invention: 'is to provide ,armA moving Amechanism' Whichljs actuated by vpressureV upon a button at'the' rear of the'mechai- 'nism ','the button being 'located at'th'e back'of tlie'doll's body in such position pressure maybe vapplied.to'th'ebutton by a finger of a hand sup'- porting the doll at the back 'thereof or by press'- ingupon the-front of thexdoll .when the' doll vis inlA 'a reclining position.

Another l'objeczt of the invention 'is 'to' provide arm moving mechanism including a casing which is mounted horizontally in the' body *of the doll and farm-engaging membersfwhich are movably carried tby the casing and vformed vfrom-a strip of'resilient metalwhich is bent. to formi the arm engagingA members: vand falso: forms a handle .or shank connecting .the arm-engaging members projecting rearwardly from the -casingzand carrying-a button at its rear end.V

ing= drawings wherein?y Fig'fl is Ya. view showing `thel body 'andi arms of' a doll in cross section-and the' arm'op'era'ting means in topplan `anol holding thecarmsin their normal position.

Figi-2 is a'verticalcsectional iviewu taken along Fig. 3 is a .fragmentary sectional. view taken along.the..line.3-3 oligure 1.l.

Fig. .4 is a view similar toFigure'l showing the arms of the. dollspreadv-apart. 1

Fig.l5 is a. perspective viewvof .the arm operating means.

The .doll with which the improvedfarm-moving means is incorporated. has a tbody I which may be of any sizedesired. and hasa-fabriccasing 2 filled with cotton battingf, or. .other .suitable material,A which .forms a soft andv lcompressilole bodyiorthe doll.; .The usualle'gs. and. head.. Anot Shown)- Aare providedand.'` the. usual. arms .4 are also. `provided. These.. arms. have. hollow klowerarm. portions terminating irihandsV 6, thenpper portions .1 ofthe arms being. formed of -fabric. and filled .withportions 3f .-.of the cotton with .which the body is filled. After .thebodyhasbeen filled withcottonto the. leve1...of the arms the `armoperating means .8 is inserted. through 'the'. open top of the body and thefilling of. thelbody .then completed and its upper end secured. about .the neckofthe head. Itlwill thusbeseenthat .the arm.-operating.,device. will .be embedded in .the body .at..the levellof. the .arms,..as. shown .in Figures 2 ande, and willbeprevented from. mov.- ing out of .itsproperposition bythe vstuning with which the body is filled."

The arm-operating device'is .illustrated inFgure 5 and referring tov this figure it will betseen that it has a casing 9 consisting of upperv and lower substantially heart=shap^edfwalls` i B'held in 'spacedrelation to. each other'bya marginal l'edge wall I if The casing may' be `formed of any suit- `able material but its walls-areV preferably formed of plastic which `is of ligh-tfwe'ightbut quitestiff so `that the casing will'be-prevented 'from `collapsing. The casing is open across its-rearportion since ends of the side edge wall terminate atoppositesides of the rear portion of the casing l and inl forwardly .spacedrelation to its lrear-'ends the marginal edge wall is'formedi with openings I2. so located. that they register'with inner ends of .thehollow -upper arm portions 1. f Midwaythe Atoform a, shank 'Iii-and arms 16; Th'intermediate portion of the resilient strip which forms the shank l5 has lts forwardly extending side portions secured together by a binding I1 and upon the rear bridge portion of the shank is mounted a button I8 which is preferably formed of plastic and has a reduced and squared forward portion i9 through which an opening 20 is formed to accommodate the bridge of the shank. The arms I6 extend laterally away from each other in front of the binding I1 and are curved forwardly and inwardly and have their front end portions bent inwardly back upon themselves and secured by bindings 2l to provide the arms I6 with yieldable forward portions 22 which allow the arms to be easily thrust into the arms of the doll and have frictional binding engagement with the forward portions 5 of the dolls arms. Resiliency of the metal strip from which the movable member is formed causes it to normally remain in the position shown in Figure 1 with the hands 6 of the doll close to each other and the shank projecting rearwardly from the casing. The button is held flat against the inner surface of the fabric casing 2 at the back of the body l, and referring to Figures l and 4 it will be seen that the button is of such dimensions that when it is pressed forwardly it may enter the recesses I3. This allows the button to be forced forwardly a sufficient distance to cause the arms I6 of the actuating member I4 to be shifted to the position shown in Figure 4. During movement of the arms I6 from the position shown in Figure 1 to that of Figure 4 the arms bear against the front ends of the openings l2 and have a rocking and sliding movement along these front edges. 'I'his sliding and rocking move- `ment of the arms IB causes the arms of the doll to be swung outwardly away from each other and when pressure upon the button is removed resiliency ofthe arms I6 cause the dolls arms to swing towards each other and return to the position shown in Figure 1. When the pressure is alternately applied to and removed from the button the dolls arms will perform a series of movements towards and away from each other and patticake movements will take place which will 'be very pleasing to a little girl playing with the doll. The doll may be held `in the arms of a person playing with it and pressure app-lied to the button by a hand holding the back of the doll or the doll may be placed in a reclining position upon its back in a doll carriage or bed and when pressure is applied to the front of the dolls body and actuating member `I4 will be shifted forwardly and rearwardly to eifect movementsl arm-portions forming continuations of the bodyv and movably connecting the arms with the body and hollow outer arm-portions formed of stiff material, and an actuator for said arms embedded in the body and comprising a shell open at its rearand formed with side openings, a -shank passing through the rear opening of said shell and having its rear end bearing against the -inner surface of the fabric casing, and yieldable arms extending from the front end of said shank outwardly through the side openings of the shell and into the arms of the doll and frictionally gripping the hollow outer portions thereof, the said arms of the actuator adapted to be rocked transversely of the body across edges of the side openings and thereby imparting patticake movements to the arms of the doll towards and away from each other when reciprocating movements are imparted to the shank by pressure upon its rear end.

2. In a doll, a body having a fabric casing and a soft filling for the casing, arms having hollow portions and flexible connections between inner ends of the arms and sides of the body, and an actuator for said arms comprising a shell em bedded in the filling and having a rear opening and side openings opposite inner ends of said arms, a shank passing through the rear opening and projecting rearwardly from the shell with its rear end bearing against the inner surface of a portion of the fabric casing at the back of the body, and resilient actuating arms extending laterally from the front end of the shank and passing through the side openings and forwardly into the arms of the doll longitudinally thereof and frictionally gripping the arms of the doll, the resilient arms normally extending forwardly in converging relation to each other and thereby urging the doll arms towards each other, and said resilient arms being slid through the arms and the side openings and rocked across front ends of the side openings in a direction away from each other when pressure is applied to the rear end of the shank and thereby serving to swing the doll arms away from each other, and the said actuating arms returning to their normal positions to move the doll arms towards each other when pressure is removed from the rear end of the shank.

3. In a doll, a body having a fabric casing and a soft filling for the casing, arms `having hol,- low portions and exible connections between inner ends of the arms and sides of the body, and an actuator for said arms comprising a shell embedded in the filling and having upper and lower walls and a rear opening and side openings opposite inner ends of said arms, a strip of resilient metal folded midway its length and secured to form a shank and arms extending from the front end of the shank, thearms formed by said resilient strip extending laterally away from opposite sides of the shank and through the side openings of the shell and into the doll arms longitudinallyk thereof with their forward portions folded inwardly back upon themselves and secured to form compressible portions having frictional binding engagement with inner surfaces of the hollow portions of the doll arms, and a button carried by the rear end of the shank and bearing against the inner surface of a portion of the fabric casing at the back of the body, resiliency ofthe arms formed by the resilient strip urging the shanky rearwardly and the arms of the doll towards each other, said shank when forced forwardly by pressure upon the button flexingv portions of the resilient arms within the shell forwardly. and rocking the said resilient arms across front ends of the side openings to swingV the doll arms away from each other and thereby impart patticake movements to the doll arms rduring forward and rearward movements of the shank.

4. A device for imparting movement towards and away from each other to movable members projecting from the body of a iigure toy, said device comprising a shell having openings at opposite sides thereof and a rear opening, a strip vof resilient material bent intermediate its length and forming a shank and yieldable arms integral therewith, said shank being disposed within the shell and shiitable forwardly and rear- I wardly therein and said arms extending laterally from opposite sides of said shank and passing outwardly from the shell through the side openings and having outer portions adapted for engagement with the movable members, the said arms having sliding and rocking movement imparted to them across edges of the side opening for operating the said members when the shank is shifted longitudinally.

YOLANDA HELEN MUSSELWHITE'. JOSEPH A. MU SSELWHITE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,089,212 Gund Mar. 3, 1914 1,332,732 Lizzi Mar. 2, 1920 1,691,443 Lloyd Nov. 13, 1928 

